


winning her heart

by nightingvle



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Mutual Pining, but josie doesn't mind, hope and landon are just friends, hope is a terrible dancer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-05-02
Packaged: 2020-02-16 08:19:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18687688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightingvle/pseuds/nightingvle
Summary: "That day you told me you had a crush on me, you said with everyone you ever liked, Lizzie always won.""She never let me have anyone, and it was pointless to compete with her.""She didn't always win, though."





	winning her heart

The space between them is small, almost unbearably so—for her hand is mere inches away, and her lips close enough for her breath to graze her cheek as Josie looks the other way, trying to avoid the stare powerful enough to turn her into a timid doe. This is all she’s ever wanted since she first laid eyes upon the other girl, but that doesn’t suppress the budding nervousness growing stronger with each passing second.

“Ow!” She exclaims, clenching her teeth against the pain caused by Hope’s heel.

With the Miss Mystic Falls competition coming up, and Lizzie’s determination to guide Hope to victory, Josie is left with helping her learn the dance moves. Not that she minds getting a moment alone with the girl, but the sudden shyness she could do without. This is their last night to memorize each step before the dance tomorrow evening and needless to say, it isn’t going very well.

Hope’s eyes widen at yet another one of her missteps of the night as she quickly grabs hold of Josie’s arm, giving one too many apologies. The girl winces when her attempt to help only makes things worse, for the witch nearly stumbles over from her strength.

“It’s okay!” Josie reassures her, before she can give anymore apologies.

This wasn’t exactly how she expected tonight to go.

Giving her some space at last, the witch recovers and prepares for their next attempt at dancing. Before they can take their positions, however, their eyes meet and Josie can’t help but burst into laughter, nor can Hope. As they laugh at the embarrassing attempt, all the tension between them dissipates.

It’s been a couple weeks since she confessed her childhood crush on Hope, and things between them twisted into something she never felt through all of the years she’s known her. She kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, for the Mikaelson to mock her feelings or unleash her wrath upon her for destroying all the precious memories she held in that fire. Josie couldn’t blame her, but she only wished the other girl would just get it over with if that’s what she was truly planning. It never came.

Now, as faint smiles are left behind on their flushed faces, Josie wonders why she was ever so nervous. She even wishes she had confessed sooner, if only to bury the secrets between them.

Hope’s eyes are lingering on Josie, and it’s enough to deepen the pink of her cheeks. She can’t help but do what she did during their dance and turns her gaze downward, looking anywhere but in front of her.

“That day you told me you had a crush on me,” says Hope, in the softened tone shes always used with Josie. “You said with everyone you ever liked, Lizzie always won.”

She feels grateful for looking away when she did, for she does not think she could face the look in her eyes, even if only moments before she was wondering how she could ever feel so nervous around her. Josie’s heart beats louder and faster until it’s all the witch can hear.

“Josie?”

Her voice rings out through the suffocating noise, allowing the girl to snap out of it as she looks up. She can see nothing but kindness in her expression, and that’s all she needs to gather the strength to answer.

“She never let me have anyone, and it was pointless to compete with her.”

Hope’s stare is intense and overwhelming, as if she’s reading every thought running through her head. Josie suddenly forgets how to breathe, and wonders how she went through each day without counting her every breath. She wants nothing more than to look away, but she doesn’t know how. It’s as if she’s frozen in time.

The other girl’s hand grazes her cheek, and she feels the light touch of her fingers as she tucks Josie’s hair behind her ear. “She didn’t always win, though.”

Her cheeks grows warm, as if the mere touch of her finger was enough to ignite a flame inside her. She has no time to react before Hope is leaning forward, those hypnotizing eyes closed shut, as if in a dream. Her lips barely brush against her own before she stops, tugging at the hunger inside of her. But she doesn’t pull away, only stays there in that frustrating position, awaiting a response. Josie’s eyes widen. This is a bad idea, she knows it, and however sweet the moment might be, it won’t last. It never does.

It would be so easy to pull away, to act as if nothing happened between them and return to their dance, but she doesn’t care about the dance. The witch lets herself fall into the kiss as the world disappears, her only focus being the softness of Hope’s lips. Her mind grows hazy, and the brief thought of it being nothing but a dream is enough to make her cling tighter. All she can think about is Hope and each syllable of her name, along with the desperate feeling it brings. She wonders if this is what it feels to drown.

Before she truly drowns, Hope pulls away as they gasp for air, both longing for more of each other. Her mind clears, and the world around them returns as if it never left.

“Wow,” is all Josie can manage as she regains her breath, a wide smile growing on her flushed face. “That was...” She stops, not quite knowing how to describe it.

“Good,” Hope cuts in. “ _Really_ good.” She smiles as the words roll of her tongue.

They stay like that for moments longer, beaming at one another, neither daring to move. It doesn’t feel awkward between them, but comfortable. Josie feels giddy and light-headed all at the same time, and wonders if Hope does too.

“I noticed you too, you know.” Hope suddenly says, ending the silence between them.

“You… you did?” 

She never thought Hope cared for her nor Lizzie back then considering how they treated her. She’d probably feel the same, after all, if it were her in that situation.

“Of course I did.” Her intense stare is enough to pin her to the spot, but not enough to scare her away. “I may have thought you both hated me back then, but that didn’t stop me from noticing you.” She places a hand on Josie’s forearm, releasing a gasp of surprise. “Or from thinking about what it would be like to kiss you.”

Josie doesn’t know how to respond or even process that revelation. Her wishful thinking always left her wondering if her feelings would be reciprocated someday, or if perhaps they already were considering how close they’ve grown. But for her to feel the same, even back then, was enough to leave her speechless.

“Well, at least I know what that’s like now,” she continues, with the infamous Mikaelson smirk Josie’s heard so much about.

She giggles at the comment, as does Hope before she’s pinning her with a gaze Josie’s come to love. She expects her to say more, to ask the lingering question between them, but she does none of these things.

Instead, Hope reaches for both of her hands and intwines their fingers together like a ribbon. Warmth blossoms in Josie’s chest and in her cheeks as she drowns within her deep blue eyes. She’s unsure of who makes the first move but before she knows it, they’re leaning into each other once more.

The crescent moon looms overhead, shining what light she can spare upon them as they lavish each other with gentle kisses—the quiet of the night making it easy to forget the world around them.


End file.
